Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-01-08
CHAPTER III
"Mr. Felix swoetsir.o

Ny nephew" Lady Lydiard exclaimed
In tone which expressed astonishment. hlt
certainly not pleasure as well. How man,
years is it since you and last metr sl,,
asked, In her abruptly straightforward way
as Mr.. Felix Sweetsir approached her writ.
ing te5le.
Inc visitor was not person easily dis
Outraged. lie took Lady Lydiard's hand
and kissed it with easy grace A shade OF
IRONY was in his manner, agreeably relieved
BY a playful flash Of tenderness
Years, my dear auntg' no said 'Look in
your glass and yon will see that time hal
stood still since we met last. How wonder
FULLY well you wearl Whom shall we cele-
brate the appearance of your first wrinkle.
am too old; shall never live to see it,
lie took an easy chair, unlimited, placed
himself close at his aunt's side. and ran his
eye over her ill-chosen dress with an air of
salrical admiration. "How perfectly sue
cessfull' he said, with his well-bred insolence.
what chaste Sayesy of colorln
What do You waIltH asked her ladysllip,
not in the least softened by the compliment.
Il want to pay my respects to my dear
aunt" Felix answered, perfectly impene-
trable to his ungracious reception. and per
ieetly comfortable in a spacious armchair.
No pen-and-ink portrait need surely be
drawn of Felix Sweetsir-he is too well.
known picture in society. The little. 1.-THE
man, with his bright restless eyes, and his
long iron-gray hair falling in curls to his
shoulders; his airy stop and his cordial man
ner; his uncertain age, his innuiHerafle ao-
complishments, and his unbounded popu-
larity-is he not familiar everywhere and
welcome everywherel How gratefully he
receives, how prodigally he repays, the cor
dial appreciation of an admiring- worldl
Every man he knows is "a charming fellow
Every woman he sees is 'sweetly pretty
What picnics he gives on the banks of the
Thames in tho summer season. What a we'll
earned little income he derives from the
whist tablet What an inestinable actor he
Is at private theetricals Of all sorts (wed-
dings include61 Did you never read Sweet
slr's novel, dashed off in tho intervals of
curative perspirat1on at a German bath9
Then you don't know what brilliant fiction
really IS He has never written a second
work; he does everything, and only does it
once. One song-the despair of professional
composers. One pictere-just to show how
easily gentleman can take up an art and
drop it again. A really multiform man, with
all the graces and all the accomplishments
sclntillating perpetually at his fingers ends.
u these poor pages have achieved nothing
Else they have done a service to persons not
IN society by presenting them to Sweetsr.
In his gracious company tho narrative
brig htens; and writer and reader catching
reflected brilliancy) understand each other
at last, thanks to Sweetsir
Well" said Lady Lydiard, ''now you are
here, what have you got to say for yourselfl
You have been abroad, of course Where?n
Principally at Paris, my dear aunt. The
on" place that is fit to live in-for this excel
lent reason, that tho French are the only
people who linow how to make the most of
-" One has relations and friends in Eng
land; and every now and then one returns 10
London
When one has spent all ones money IN
Paris" her ladyship interposed 'That's
What you were going to say, isn't itF'